Hoverboard owners beware

[mannyo]

Another family has been left homeless after a hoverboard fire destroyed their family home.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-35228869

 

 

[gadgetman]

Although hover boards are the main headline, there's been a rise in lithium ion battery incidents.

Locally a garage showroom was damaged by a camera battery left on charge.

[Covvag]

I'm surprised Marty mcflys house never burnt down really he had one of them I think

[GentleGiant]

People are still in denial about them being illegal on public footpaths and roads; I tried to point the fact out to the father of a boy rolling into a shop on one.

 

Apparently, the huge number of fires has been caused by a patent fight between the original designers and various Chinese makers; the Chinese rushed a simplified design to beat the original, because they wouldnt pay the licence fees - and the cheap versions are missing several vital safety components in the battery charging circuits.

[gadgetman]

The hover boards sold by Amazon, Tesco etc were CE marked as they have to be, so testing for battery charging circuit safety cut outs is part of the certification and in going random testing.

Most major manufacturers have had exploding batteries from Sony, Samsung and others. Mobiles, laptops, cameras, tablets and other day to day devices people are using and charging regularly. Plenty of examples on youtube, all with official batteries and chargers.

Usually battery bulging is a sign of an unsafe battery. That is assuming that you can see the battery, or the devices casing has also bulged.

However the damage they can do is reason enough for me to only use trusted brands from trusted retailers when a new battery is needed.

[MillsyVRS]

People are still in denial about them being illegal on public footpaths and roads; I tried to point the fact out to the father of a boy rolling into a shop on one.

Apparently, the huge number of fires has been caused by a patent fight between the original designers and various Chinese makers; the Chinese rushed a simplified design to beat the original, because they wouldnt pay the licence fees - and the cheap versions are missing several vital safety components in the battery charging circuits.

Several videos have shown a lot of police couldn't give a monkeys if people ride them, even if it's right in front of them. People will only get back on them further down the road and I'm sure they've got better things to do with their time, IMO.

[MikeF]

copied this from my facebook

 

 

 

 

Just a quick bit of info for people who have bought their kids segways or hover boards or any other electrical device for Christmas, plugs like this are illegal in the UK for a few reasons. First off there is no fuse fitted to the plug which offers no protection against shorting out or overheating, secondly the pins are too close to the outer case which could possibly electrocute you if removing from a socket, and finally you can see how the earth pin is partially sheathed (the top one) this offers next to no earth connection at all. These plugs come with a CE Mark on them which is not any sign of conformity to the British electrical regulations, all plugs being used in Britain must have the British Standards Mark BS1363 printed on them. If any of your chargers have plugs without the BS1363 Mark on them cut them off and fit a new plug with the relevant sized fuse (most of these chargers run at 2A so fit a 3A fuse). Pass the message on people it might just save someone you love.

[GentleGiant]

Good post, but the big issue with these boards is the charging circuits built into the battery, the battery can overheat and catch fire without exceeding the nominal charging current, and the cheap circuits have no thermal cut-outs.